We’d like to begin by thanking LA TACO for covering this story. As the petition writers, Miriam Velez Sanchez, Chiany Dri and I (Michelle Leclerc) never imagined it would receive so much attention. This movement is not anonymous. Every signature in the petition represents a name and a voice. Right now, there are over 1,200 voices asking for change.
Contrary to Sophia Miles, the co-owner of soon-to-be Tres Hermanas Restaurant in Ojai’s statements, we wish her restaurant well and look forward to her thriving business, which is why we designed our requests to be simple to implement before they launched a website or placed signage on their storefront. There’s a misconception that the petition was the only presence online that flagged issues of appropriation. We should point out that influencers on TikTok and Instagram as well as commenters on Instagram had been voicing concern in the days prior to the petition’s conception. Many of the comments on Tres Hermanas Ojai’s instagram were deleted, and the comments that remained disappeared when Tres Hermanas Ojai either archived or removed their Instagram page.
On September 8, we wrote the petition and spent the evening revising it without promotion. On September 9, we promoted and announced the petition, and it immediately began gathering signatures.
The meeting that we had planned for Saturday, Sept 17th with Sophia was designed to give suggestions on how these changes can be implemented with minimal costs in mind by providing suggestions based on our collective branding and DEI expertise. Unfortunately, Sophia canceled the meeting that day based on “outside advice and counsel and members of the community” whom she continues, “have all advised me not to meet with you.” Despite her clear indication that she would not meet with us, she had expressed a desire to meet in the future. Sophia has not requested a meeting since. We assumed she wished to address the petition concerns on her own, but if she wants or requires our assistance, we hope she reaches out. An Instagram DM is best.
Regarding contact, Sophia claims in the LA TACO article Instagram comments that the petition writers have been leaving threatening anonymous voicemails to local businesses. This is untrue. There have been no threats condoned by the authors of the petition, nor will we ever condone harassment. We ask that Sophia refrain from jumping to unfounded conclusions. If there are threats being made, we hope that she seeks assistance from the authorities.
There’s another misconception that this is just about the food, though none of the petition requests mention food. The restaurant’s statements on Instagram referenced concepts from Indigenous culture as part of their restaurant description before they were deleted. The restaurant’s website continues to do the same. It ties the restaurant’s brand story to the Iroquois/Haudenosaunee story and practice of Tres Hermanas or the Three Sisters. The use of indigenous folklore is continued in the restaurant’s name and logo. Finally, the choice to make the name in Spanish is potentially misleading to patrons who seek to support minority-owned businesses.
We hope that the owners of the restaurant, Sophia and her husband, will read the petition and petition comments from members of the local and Indigenous communities to truly understand why the restaurant’s concept continues to draw concern.
As a call to action, we ask that you share this petition to help spread awareness on this issue.